A petition drive run by SumOfUs.org, seeking to collect signatures prior to Apple's shareholder meeting today, has removed a primary claim it alleged against the company, substituting other deceptive wording after collecting tens of thousands of names with its original, very misleading allegations.

The original wording of petition that SumOfUs.org distributed described described "a young girl" who "spends those hours inhaling n-hexane, a potent neurotoxin used to clean iPhone glass, because it dries a few seconds faster than a safe alternative. After just a few years on the line, she will be fired because the neurological damage from the n-hexane and the repetitive stress injuries to her wrists and hands make her unable to continue performing up to standard," it said, in wording that continues to appear on the web.

The petition's claims that suggested Apple requires workers to use the toxic chemical n-hexane to clean iPhone screens because it is "faster than a safe alternative" were actually derived from Apple's own Supplier Responsibility report, which in reality documented action the company took to stop the use of the chemical last year.

Wintek, the company that had used it, ended up paying workers for serious damages they suffered after violent riots broke out in protest over the issue.

Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, an executive director of SumOfUs.org, stated in a press release today that Apple has a moral obligation to fully compensate workers like Guo Rui-Qiang and Jia Jing-Chuan" who were exposed to the chemical by Wintek, and said Apple had "to take the hard steps required make sure that tragedies like this never happen again, despite Apple's published report documenting that it had already required Wintek to take preventive action.

Apple noted in its public report earlier this year that "we required the facility to discontinue use of n-hexane, to fix the factorys ventilation systems, and to implement improvements to their management systems for Environmental Health and Safety."

After collecting tens of thousands of signatures, SumOfUs.org quietly changed the wording of the petition to read that the young worker "spends those hours inhaling isopropanol, a toxin used to clean iPhone glass. After just a few years on the line, she will be fired because the repetitive stress injuries to her wrists and hands have made them useless." (Emphasis theirs).

The petition not only drops alleged claims of the continued use of n-hexane, but substitutes "isopropanol," which it describes as a "toxin," despite it actually being the chemical name of common "rubbing alcohol," something that American parents commonly use to sterilize the ear piercings of their young children.

Alcohol was also the "safer alternative" that SumOfUs implied Apple refused to use to save time at the expense of worker's health. The petition continues to state that repetitive stress injuries alone would cause a worker to left with "useless" hands and wrists, a claim originally tied to toxic exposure with n-hexane, which actually can cause neurological damage.

SumOfUs.org has advertised efforts to organize a protest at the Apple campus this morning, asking for "visuals" to include "Apple consumers dressed as iPhones, with Apple products and posters echoing Apples taglines (e.g., 'iWant An Ethical iPhone')."

SumOfUs.org is coordinating its campaign with Mark Shields, who portrays himself as a concerned Apple customer but who is actually a director at the Washington DC based Spitfire Strategies, "a consulting firm offering advice on strategic communications and campaign planning for a wide range of non-profits and foundations," which describes itself as "dedicated to helping nonprofits and foundations create and implement high impact communications programs to achieve their social change goals."

Rather than focusing on n-hexane, Shields' independent petition, run by Change.org, demands that Apple "release a worker protection strategy for new product releases," alleging that the company's product scheduling results in spikes of repetitive stress injuries and suicides, despite being unable to offer any data to back up the claims.

These petitions are not about any concrete attempts to change anything at all. They are just about making North Americans feel less guilty about their lifestyle, or superior to their neighbours who perhaps haven't signed them. They are absolutely idiotic on many levels.

Disgusting. Where is the 'ethics' in changing the contents of a petition after they've been signed? Isn't that like, illegal? And isopropanol is now a 'toxic substance'? I inhaled that stuff for YEARS in my university labs, can I get a petition too? At my protest I want people dressed up as kangaroos and koalas though.

It's difficult to put into words how unethical SumOfUs.org's actions are. It really is outrageous.

I also haven't seen anywhere an analysis of SumOfUs.org's central claims that allude to the toxicity of n-hexane. They make it sound like some of the most evil stuff on earth and that only a maniac would make anyone work with it.

However, according to wikipedia, n-hexane is usually considered "non-toxic"; it is long term exposure to high levels of n-hexane that is the problem. A bit like how drinking too much water can in fact kill you; does that mean that nobody should have to work with water on a production line? It's possible that n-hexane could be used if adequate protection were provided but it's probably cheaper just to use a less toxic substitute, which Wintek has now done.

their websites states they base their petitions on 'news reports'. News reports!
Like their first anti apple petition was based on the notorious NYT anti apple hit piece, the article which 'sources' immediately wrote open letters to the paper to refute statements attributed to them.

They made all kinds of statements like child slaves in Foxconn etc and then when the FLA stated that the factory is better than the norm and ABC finds no children working there they start an anti FLA anti ABC smear campaign.

Their 'poison killing workes' now found to be rubbing alcohol is another indication of their crap.

They are hit whores who highlight apple as hiting Apple gets them publicity and it's good for their business and it is a 'business'-- 'Donate' on the website is as prominent as 'Petition'. PCs had 90% market share for years in the same or (according to the Chinese themselves) worse factories than Apple's. Go try to find Lenovo's audit disclosures. Where's sumofus dozens of petitons against Acer, Asus , Dell etc. ?

somebody should start an organization to petition against people like SumofUs.

I am surprised that glass is cleaned by hand. It seems this is a simple task that a machine could do faster and better without repetitive strain.

I think it all goes down to cost! It may be cheaper to hire someone to do it than to invest in a robot and electricity etc. This also may have the effect of having to change the manufacturing line somewhere up or down the line to have more robots and the list goes on.

I think if they start modernising the manufacturing line, then they could lose their edge over other countries like Brazil.